Pollution not discussed in DPCC board meeting, decline in air quality not even in agenda: Expert member

New Delhi [India], October 18 (ANI): Amid concerns around the air quality in the national capital ahead of the approaching winter, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) Board held a meeting at the Secretariat on Tuesday.

However, pollution was not discussed at the DPCC board meeting and neither were health concerns arising out of a perceived decline in air quality part of the agenda, Anil Gupta, an expert member of the panel, said.

“As per rules, the DPCC board meeting should be held every three months. The last meeting was held in January, this year. In the meeting today, we discussed the action taken report and some technical issues that were part of the agenda at the previous meeting. Air pollution in Delhi or that of the Yamuna did not feature in the DPCC deliberations today. However, I told the DPCC chairman (Ashwini Kumar) that the panel should take up the environmental issues in the national capital for discussions. There should also be deliberations on air pollution and the pollution of the Yamuna.”

Gupta informed that the DPCC chairman said pollution concerns would hog the discourse at the meetings of the panel from now on.

“There are three expert members in the 16-member board and each and every one of them raised the pollution question. However, the officials weren’t ready to discuss it,” he added.

Earlier, the Centre’s air quality panel directed authorities in the National Capital Region to enforce a ban on coal usage in hotels and restaurants and take punitive measures against polluting industries and thermal power plants as the air quality in Delhi plunged into the “poor” category.

This action came as part of the government’s pollution control plan, known as the ‘Graded Response Action Plan’ (GRAP), which is implemented in the Delhi-NCR to combat air pollution during the winter season.